Movie Review - Before Midnight

Before Midnight (2013)

Starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy

Directed by Richard Linklater

There are two absolutely fantastic scenes the bookend Before Midnight, the third film in the Richard Linklater-directed series that periodically cheeks in on the lives of Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy), a couple who met and spent only one night together while touring Vienna in their early twenties (in the film Before Sunrise) and then rekindled their love nine years later in Paris (in the film Before Sunset).

The first of these scenes has Jesse and Celine -- who after the events of the last film are now a couple raising twin girls -- driving a car through Greece while on vacation talking about some of the more mundane aspects of their lives.  This long take immediately tells the audience that Jesse and Celine have become much more familiar with each other since the last film's conclusion, with their conversations shifting from the more esoteric as we saw during their courtship to more grounded, based in reality-type dialog ("Should I take this new job?  What about the kids?").

The second of these scenes occurs after a long day of meeting with friends and watching over their kids as Jesse and Celine have been treated to an evening at a posh hotel kid-free by their Greek comrades.  Upon their arrival, the two want nothing more than to forget about their kids and spend the night ravaging one another with lovemaking.  However, Jesse's fourteen year-old son who spent the summer with his father in France and then vacationing in Greece calls Celine to tell him that his plane home to the States landed in London.  Celine says something very casual at the end of the conversation that Jesse takes as derogatory toward his ex-wife and this somewhat innocent remark causes the night to spiral out of control with Jesse and Celine yelling about how they've given up so much for one another, feeling like they've left part of themselves behind ever since they finally took the plunge and got together nine years ago.

Both of these scenes epitomize all that is great with the Before... series of films -- crackling, real-life dialog that never once feels forced or out of place, coming from a natural place of real emotion and story.  Thanks to the performances of Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy and the fact that we've followed these same characters across a unique twenty year cinematic journey, we can't help but feel we're watching a real-life couple deal with the positives and negatives of a relationship.

Unfortunately, the problem with these two fantastic scenes is that they make the rest of the film pale in comparison.  Unlike the previous films in the Before... series, Before Midnight invites several other couples into the picture as Jesse and Celine vacation in Greece.  (On the surface, I get this -- Jesse and Celine are older now with kids and their lives aren't strictly revolving around one another like the previous two films.)  We get a particularly long scene at a dinner table in which these couples discuss the differences between men and women that pretty much boils everything down to the stereotypical "men think with their penises, women think with their hearts/brains" thing we've heard hundreds of times before.  This is actually a theme that runs throughout much of the film's scenes that aren't strictly Jesse/Celine moments and it really makes it seem as if we're watching two different films.  For a flick that contains this childish "been there-done that" base look at the Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus concept to also contain some of the most realistic and intimate looks at communication in a relationship seems oxymoronic.

Still, the final scene alone of Before Midnight is worth the price of admission alone and elevates the film (to a level it may not be worthy of being elevated) thanks to the stellar writing of director Linklater and stars Hawke and Delpy -- it's that fantastic.  Although Midnight couldn't quite match the ease and charm of Sunset, I look forward to checking in on Jesse and Celine again in nine years as this original cinematic series continues (at least I hope that's in the works).

The RyMickey Rating:  B+

Movie Review - Before Sunset

Before Sunset (2004)

Starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy

Directed by Richard Linklater

In preparation for one of my final movie viewings of 2013 films, I needed to catch up on the story of Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy), two thirtysomethings who met nine years ago on a train and spent a glorious night in Vienna talking about their life views, falling in love, and then having to go their separate ways.  The story of twentysomething Jesse and Celine was detailed in the 1995 film Before Sunrise and while I enjoyed that film even a second viewing had me facing the same issues -- Jesse and Celine were putting on too many aires to impress one another to make me care deeply for the characters.

After watching Before Sunset, I can't help but think that my "issues" with the characters in the first film were perhaps the point.  Jesse and Celine were fresh from college then and trying to impress each other with their recent "book" knowledge while also trying to show just how learned they were with real world issues.  Nine years later, these superficial attempts aren't as necessary as nearly a decade has shaped them into different people (Jesse is married with a kid!) who wouldn't necessarily be as impressed with their twentysomething selves.

Instead, Jesse and Celine reflect on lost love and "what could have been."  This nostalgic reminiscing was more appealing to me and I found myself enjoying the company of these characters more than I had previously.  Hawke and Delpy are charming with one another and Delpy almost takes center stage here as her Celine is given a bit more of an emotional arc to work with over the course of the film's quick eighty minute mini-travelogue of Paris.  And the final scene -- I couldn't help but smile from ear to ear.  I look forward to the third chapter of this unique film experience.

The RyMickey Rating:  A-

Movie Review - Before Sunrise

Before Sunrise (1995)

Starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy

Directed by Richard Linklater

At the request of a long-standing loyal RyMickey's Ramblings reader, I popped in the Before Sunrise dvd the other day.  For months, said reader has been on my case about needing to watch this movie.  It's one of his favorite movies of all time (maybe #2...definitely top 5?) and I simply had to check it out, I was told.  Granted, while I wasn't head over heels in love with it (it's tough to live up to that hype), it's a very good movie, a lovely romance, and has the ability to make anyone get sentimental, mushy, and long for the kind of romantic relationship we're witnessing onscreen.

The story of Before Sunrise is incredibly simple.  Two twenty-somethings, an American named Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and the French Celine (Julie Delpy) meet on a train traveling across Europe.  They get off in Vienna and decide to spend one romantic night together in the city before Jesse has to catch a plane back to America in the morning.

That's it.  Nothing more.  The general plot of the film can be condensed into less than fifty words.  However, what the film lacks in plot (and I don't mean that derogatively) it makes up for in charming dialog and an overall sense of romance.  As Jesse and Celine talk about everything from art to religion to a fear of flying to sex, they get to know each other better than most couples who have been dating for months.  As they talk, they both begin to realize that they're quickly falling in love -- something neither of them expected and something they're both hesitant to admit since this romance can be nothing but a whirlwind because of Jesse's impending departure to the States.

The amazing thing about the movie is how everything seemed so natural.  Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy are both great, completely embodying these characters.  There's a simplicity to both their performances and neither grandstands or feels the need to be showy (this same exact statement could apply to the film as a whole itself).

That said, if there's one fault in the film, it's this.  I'm not a fan of college kids attempting to show that they're smarter than they really are by speaking eloquently about poetry or art -- I get that you know one poem or know a lot about one artist to try and act all impressive around the opposite sex, but let's be honest.  You only learn that stuff to try to pull off that you're smarter than you look.  It's just pretentious.  There were moments in Before Sunrise that were like this and I can't stand it when college kids act this way.

Beyond that, however, this is a solid film that has only grown in its appeal in the twenty-four hours since I watched it.  I imagine that with a repeated viewing or two, this one will likely rise up in the rankings.  And I'm looking forward to watching the sequel Before Sunset sometime in the near future.

The RyMickey Rating:  B
(Original Rating:  B+; rating revised 9/3/14 after a repeat viewing)